China’s Ding Liren has fought back strongly from a disastrous start against Ian Nepomniachtchi in the €2m world championship match in Astana, Kazakhstan. The Russian, playing under a neutral flag, blew the nervous 30-year-old title debutant from Wenzhou off the board in 29 moves of zestful attacking chess in game two of their scheduled 14-game series, before an increasingly confident Ding comfortably drew game three, then found a winning rook for knight sacrifice to score in 47 in Thursday’s game four. The score was Ding 2 Nepomniachtchi 2 before Friday’s rest day.
Ding’s troubles began in game one, after Nepomniachtchi chose a rare variant of the DERLD (Delayed Exchange Ruy Lopez Deferred), known as the Deadly Derld when it was popular in London tournaments in the 1970s. His selection of 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 0-0 Be7 6 Bxc6 dxc6 7 Re1 even caused Magnus Carlsen to ask his aides whether that move had been considered during the prep for his 2016 match against Sergey Karjakin (yes, it had).
The semi-novelty was harmless apart from its surprise value, but Ding’s reaction was sub-optimal, even provoking former champion Vishy Anand to call one of his choices “shocking” during the Fide commentary.
Ding’s weak queen’s side pawns were on dark squares, the same colour as Nepomniachtchi’s bishop, but despite Black’s defensive errors the engine assessment never got above +1, so there was no clear win.
The most remarkable aspect of game one was the ensuing press conference where Ding admitted that he had felt depressed and unable to concentrate properly.
Game two opened with a sensational fourth move by Ding: 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nf3 d5 and now 4 h3?! a pawn push never ventured previously in a top level classical game and one which beginners are warned against as too passive. In the given situation in Astana, it could be justified as a waiting move taking Nepomniachtchi out of his prep and was conceived as such by Ding’s creative aide, Richárd Rapport.
It worked, at first, as Ding swiftly went half an hour ahead on the clock and by move 12 had a closely similar situation to one of his previous blitz games. His choice was whether to exchange his e4 knight at c5 or f6. Ding used up his entire time advantage on the decision, yet still got it wrong.
He selected Nxf6+, only considering a recapture with the d8 queen. But Nepomniachtchi took with the g7 pawn, then castled long and suddenly had a potential attack down the newly opened g file against the Chinese king.
Ding continually went to his rest room after moving, and the view of the stage was often of a chessboard, a ticking clock, and two empty chairs. Nepomniachtchi was in his element, and took control of the board with imaginative play, while Ding made further errors. When Ding finally resigned a hopeless position at move 29, he had only a few seconds left for 11 moves.
Following this heavy defeat, Ding received supportive messages from friends, and the next two games witnessed a remarkable turnaround, as the increasingly confident grandmaster easily held his own in game three, where Nepomniachtchi’s opening choice of the hackneyed Queen’s Gambit Exchange Variation was questionable. Ding had a slight initiative when the Russian bailed out with a draw by threefold repetition of position.
Ding switched to the English Opening 1 c4 in game four, and his aide’s influence was again apparent as the early moves repeated a Rapport game from 2013. The position soon became a complex battle for the initiative, where Ding sacrificed a pawn to create a central duo at e5 and d5, which Nepomniachtchi tried to undermine from the flanks.
The game was still dynamically level until Nepomniachtchi regrouped his knight to the visually strong central square d4, where Ding swiftly sacrificed his rook and in return got a dominating d4 knight of his own. His pawn rapidly advanced to e7, allowing his queen and rook to develop winning tactical threats, and Nepomniachtchi was forced to resign at move 47, faced with mating threats or decisive material loss.
The drastic improvement in Ding’s demeanour from the depressed figure of game two, hiding in his rest room as his position deteriorated, to the confident personality of game four, moving rapidly with strong choices while Nepomniachtchi sat slumped in his chair awaiting his doom, has been the most striking visual aspect of the match so far.
The Russian made his fatal 28th move after only two minutes, repeating the pattern of impulsive decisions which had cost him dearly in his heavy defeat by Carlsen in their 2021 title match. The 32-year-old’s greatest strength is to see tactical shots for himself, while his greatest weakness is to overlook key opportunities for his opponents.
Meanwhile, the $2m online Champions Tour will stage its third event (of six) in late May, when three of the four seeded Division One players will be Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana, based on their results in Division One of this month’s Chessable Masters.
Significantly, the fourth seed will be the Division Two winner, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, as the Uzbek, 18, continues to make eye-catching progress towards the world top 10. His serious dedication is reminiscent of the Soviet chess patriarch Mikhail Botvinnik, whose autobiography was titled Achieving the Aim. The Chessable Masters was another landmark event for Abdusattorov as he defeated France’s Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 5.5-1.5 over two matches in impressive style.
3863: It’s mate in four by 1...Nfg3+ 2 Kh2 Nf1+ 3 Kh1 Qh2+! 4 Nxh2 Nfg3 mate.
